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About the author:Stephanie Stiavetti is a writer and cookbook author in San Francisco. Stephanie's cookbook, Melt: the Art of Macaroni and Cheese, celebrates America's favorite dish by recreating it with small production, specialty cheeses. Her food blog, The Culinary Life, is a repository for all things comfort food related, from savory dinners to transcendental desserts.

1 (28-ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes, crushed by hand or in a food mill

1 (3 ounce) can tomato paste

3 tablespoons capers

3 tablespoons red wine vinegar

4 teaspoons juice from 1 lemon

kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 bay leaf

1 pound pasta

1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

Directions

1.

In a large, heavy-bottomed pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add onions and cook until gently browned, about 5 minutes, then add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1. Add the ground chuck and break up into chunks. Cook until no pink color remains, about 8 minutes.

2.

Add the chopped rosemary, thyme, and marjoram, and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add tomatoes, tomato paste, capers, red wine vinegar, and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper.

3.

Add the bay leaf, bring to a simmer, and lower the heat to very low. Cook, uncovered, for 2 hours, stirring occasionally to keep the bottom from burning. If the liquid from your sauce evaporates too quickly, add a little hot water to keep it from burning.

4.

When ready to serve, cook pasta in a large pot of salted water according to box instructions. Toss pasta with sauce and serve with grated parmesan.

After leaving the tech world nearly a decade ago, Stephanie made a career jump to her lifetime love, writing. She currently writes for the Huffington Post, KQED's Bay Area Bites, NPR, and other select media outlets. Her first cookbook, Melt: The Art of Macaroni and Cheese, is due out in fall 2013 on Little, Brown with coauthor Garrett McCord.

Being a recovering techy leaves an indelible mark, and everything Stephanie does is infused with her deep fascination with digital technology. She has been blogging since 1999, before blog engines even existed and a great readership consisted of a handful of friends who occasionally thought to check out your site. In 2005 she started her first food blog, which she repurposed in 2007 to become The Culinary Life.

Stephanie can be called many things: food writer, essayist, professional recipe developer, cookbook author, social media consultant, videographer, documentary maker, website developer, archivist of life. Despite all of these titles, she most commonly responds to Steph.

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